The Impact of Software as a Service on IS Authority – A Contingency Perspective

Author

Till Winkler, Institute of Information Systems, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.Follow
Christoph Goebel, Institute of Information Systems, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.Follow
Alexander Benlian, Institute for Information Systems and New Media, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany.Follow
Francis Bidault, European School of Management and Technology, Berlin, Germany.Follow
Oliver Günther, Institute of Information Systems, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.Follow

Abstract

For some business applications, using Software as a Service (SaaS) is becoming increasingly popular. However, it is largely unknown how SaaS adoption affects the arrangements between business and IT departments. In this study, we take a contingency approach to investigate how firms allocate authority for SaaS applications. Based on semi-structured interviews with business and IT representatives of companies that have adopted the wide-spread SaaS solution Salesforce CRM, we extend existing contingency theory to propose a set of factors for governance arrangements on the application level. These factors are used in a comparative case study of 4 cases of SaaS adoption to explain why application authority is allocated either to the business or the IT side. The results suggest that in most cases there exist dominant and reinforcing contingencies determining a definite mode of SaaS governance.

Recommended Citation

Winkler, Till; Goebel, Christoph; Benlian, Alexander; Bidault, Francis; and Günther, Oliver, "The Impact of Software as a Service on IS Authority – A Contingency Perspective" (2011). ICIS 2011 Proceedings. 22.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2011/proceedings/organization/22